Hair Balls didn't catch a whiff of anything that smelled like it had
been decomposing, but we did recognize that familiar funk of
warm-weather driven BO. Must have been the young viewer's dad.

While her smell is not in full effect, Lois is beginning to bloom, which
has the museum staff optimistic that the stench that everyone has been
waiting for is not far away.

"We're thinking it may happen sometime in the next 24 hours," said Nancy
Greig, the director of the Cockrell Butterfly Center. "But Lois is coy,
so you never know."

Lois has been in possession of the Houston Museum of Natural Science for
over six years, after a previous staff horticulturalist bought her as a
walnut-sized tuber for $75. In the past week, the museum estimates that
she's had over 35,000 visitors, which would make her quite the
worthwhile investment. According to Greig, one Lois admirer has visited
on 24 occasions.

Greig, who is all smiles when she's around Lois, is just pleased that so
many non-botanists have shown an interest in the six-foot tall plant.

Greig's one concern? That "Perry," the corpse flower currently growing
at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minn., will
start smelling first.